Dutch tell Tsvangirai more aid depends on reforms

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Zimbabwe must adopt economic, political and social reforms before getting any additional aid from the Netherlands, the Dutch government told Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai during his visit here on Sunday. 

Tsvangirai was in the Netherlands on the first leg of a trip to seek financial aid for the southern African country whose economic crisis many critics blame on veteran Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe. He and Tsvangirai formed a unity government in February after an electoral standoff. 

Tsvangirai, who will visit Britain, France, Sweden and Brussels, seat of the 27-nation European Union, met Dutch Development Cooperation Minister Bert Koenders and will meet Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende on Monday. 

He is also scheduled to meet U.S. President Barack Obama during a four-day trip to Washington.  “We have big problems but they are not insoluble,” Tsvangirai told Koenders. 

The Dutch have already promised 14.7 million euros in aid to Zimbabwe, mainly for humanitarian efforts and Koenders told Tsvangirai that the Netherlands would be willing to consider more for human rights issues.

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